I’ve got a deep mean streak. I can easily fantasize about taking down enemies. My survival genetics knows a dead enemy is no threat, forever.

That confession is, however, entirely different from my actions. I have never physically attacked anyone. I did have scuffles as a child and in elementary school. I have told people I’d love to give them a smack, but I’ve never made threatening moves.

I have had many, very angry, verbal disagreements. My nickname in the US Army was “Bad Mouth”. In my Defense Contractor days, one wag labeled me “Snidely Whiplash”. After my retirement, a friend related a bull session at a meeting where my crueler verbal takedowns were discussed, with laughter. Guys working in that environment have a grudging respect for co-workers who fight the battles that often need fighting.

Yet, my message is that violence is almost always less effective than the myriad of ways humans have of competing non-violently. Non-violent competition sustains the social fabric that we depend upon for the daily sustenance that we, our families and our friends need.

Killing some of our most disgustingly worst enemies will only create an escalation of violence that rends society into the brutality of Civil War. Political violence is immediately gratifying, a simple-minded action that can lead to war. Non-violent political action is a vastly complex, frustrating, slow-moving process that can consume decades. Yet this is the only approach that can, with some cleverness and persistence, finally yield a stable society. 

Charlie Kirk’s genius and personality was the perfect embodiment of this approach. His peaceful effort at arguing the merits, planting ideas, and persuading those with conservative inclinations to get involved in political action is the perfect model for us all. It is the only path to returning a majority of Americans to the values we revere and the political dominance we need to effect long-term change.

We must stifle our impatience for quick results in renewing America’s core values. We must hope that none of us blow our cool with retaliatory violence and assassinations. We must embrace the patience and hard work required to develop the MAGA coalition into an unbeatable ballot box monster.

That still leaves plenty of verbal, meme, and activist space for demolishing the so-called values of our Democrat, liberal, progressive, pervert opponents.

We can win. At this moment, we are slowly gaining ground. Let us honor Charlie Kirk’s genius and life by dedicating ourselves to continuing and expanding his non-violent, winning methods.

Image from Grok.